[Margaret Pilkington]

It also makes it easier for someone to falsely accuse the alleged perpetrator...and this in turn has adverse effects on future convictions, because like all sexual offences of historic nature, the forensic proof is long gone.

I find it difficult to grasp how jurors can erase stories printed in the media(that includes social media too) from their mind. If you know nothing about the person you are trying, then you CAN rely on only the evidence in front of you.
Which is why the past offences of a person being prosecuted are not known to the jury.
In truth, the story just gives folk something to gossip about...which is exactly what we are doing here(though I make no assumptions about this man or the offences that he is alleged to have committed).
So, on that note I think it is time for me to bow out of the discussion as I think I have covered what I wanted to say.